Newborns sleep a lot — about 17 to 18 hours a day for the first few weeks and 15 hours a day by month three. But they're almost never asleep for more than three to four hours at a time, day or night, during these first few weeks. Translation: You won't be getting much uninterrupted sleep, either. At night you'll need to get up to feed and change your baby; during the day, you'll play with him, too. And while some infants sleep through the night as early as six weeks, many babies don't reach that milestone until they're 5 or 6 months old. You can help your baby get there sooner by teaching him good sleep habits from the start.
How you can establish healthy sleep habits?
• Learn the signs that mean he's tired.
For the first six to eight weeks, your baby won't be able to stay up much more than two hours at a time. If you wait much longer than that to put him down, he'll be overtired and may have trouble falling asleep. Watch your baby for signs that he's sleepy. Is he rubbing his eyes, pulling on his ear, or developing faint dark circles under his eyes? If you spot these or any other signs of sleepiness, head straight for the crib. You'll soon develop a sixth sense about your baby's daily rhythms and patterns, and you'll know instinctively when he's ready for a nap.
• Begin to teach him the difference between day and night.
Some infants are night owls (something you may have gotten a hint of during pregnancy) and will be wide awake just when you want to hit the hay. For the first few days you won't be able to do much about this. But once your baby is about 2 weeks old, you can start teaching him to distinguish night from day. When he's alert and awake during the day, play with him as much as you can, keep the house and his room light and bright, and don't worry about minimizing regular daytime noises like the phone, TV, or dishwasher. If he tends to sleep through feedings, wake him up. At night, don't play with him when you go into his room for a feeding. Keep the lights and noise level low, and don't spend too much time talking to him. Before long he should begin to figure out that nighttime is for sleeping.
• Give him a chance to fall asleep on his own.
By the time he's 6 to 8 weeks old, start giving your baby a chance to fall asleep on his own. How? Put him down when he's sleepy but still awake, suggests Jodi Mindell, associate director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and author of Sleeping Through the Night. Mindell advises against rocking or nursing your baby to sleep, even at this young age. "Parents think that what they do this early doesn't have an effect," she says, "but it does. Babies are learning their sleep habits. If you rock your child to sleep every night for the first eight weeks, why would he expect anything different later on?"
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